''The Higher Infinite: Large Cardinals in Set Theory from their Beginnings'' is a
monograph in
set theory
Set theory is the branch of mathematical logic that studies sets, which can be informally described as collections of objects. Although objects of any kind can be collected into a set, set theory, as a branch of mathematics, is mostly concer ...
by
Akihiro Kanamori, concerning the history and theory of
large cardinal
In the mathematical field of set theory, a large cardinal property is a certain kind of property of transfinite cardinal numbers. Cardinals with such properties are, as the name suggests, generally very "large" (for example, bigger than the least ...
s, infinite sets characterized by such strong properties that their existence cannot be proven in
Zermelo–Fraenkel set theory
In set theory, Zermelo–Fraenkel set theory, named after mathematicians Ernst Zermelo and Abraham Fraenkel, is an axiomatic system that was proposed in the early twentieth century in order to formulate a theory of sets free of paradoxes such ...
(ZFC). This book was published in 1994 by
Springer-Verlag
Springer Science+Business Media, commonly known as Springer, is a German multinational publishing company of books, e-books and peer-reviewed journals in science, humanities, technical and medical (STM) publishing.
Originally founded in 1842 ...
in their series Perspectives in Mathematical Logic, with a second edition in 2003 in their Springer Monographs in Mathematics series, and a paperback reprint of the second edition in 2009 ().
Topics
Not counting introductory material and appendices, there are six chapters in ''The Higher Infinite'', arranged roughly in chronological order by the history of the development of the subject. The author writes that he chose this ordering "both because it provides the most coherent exposition of the mathematics and because it holds the key to any epistemological concerns".
In the first chapter, "Beginnings", the material includes
inaccessible cardinal
In set theory, an uncountable cardinal is inaccessible if it cannot be obtained from smaller cardinals by the usual operations of cardinal arithmetic. More precisely, a cardinal is strongly inaccessible if it is uncountable, it is not a sum o ...
s,
Mahlo cardinal In mathematics, a Mahlo cardinal is a certain kind of large cardinal number. Mahlo cardinals were first described by . As with all large cardinals, none of these varieties of Mahlo cardinals can be proven to exist by ZFC (assuming ZFC is consis ...
s,
measurable cardinal
In mathematics, a measurable cardinal is a certain kind of large cardinal number. In order to define the concept, one introduces a two-valued measure on a cardinal , or more generally on any set. For a cardinal , it can be described as a subdivis ...
s,
compact cardinal Compact cardinal may refer to:
* Weakly compact cardinal
* Subcompact cardinal
* Supercompact cardinal
* Strongly compact cardinal
{{Short pages monitor